Corn-sheller.



o. MbKEE.

CORN SHELLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1 me/whoa,

C. MOKEE.

CORN SHELLBR. A

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 13, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lfwue/wtoz a/" o uw, HoM/wn A COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPII CU., WASHINGTON, n.C.

@9M/mesmo C. MOKEE.

CORN SHELLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1a, 1910.

1,029,451 Patented June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH cu.. WASHINGTON. nA c,

.corn from the cobs.

i 'entre CHARLES IVICKEE, OF MONTICELLO, ILLINOIS.

CORN-SHELLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 11, 1912.

Application filed May 13, 1910. Serial No. 561,197'. l

To all whom 'ii may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Moline, oiti- Zen of the United States,residing at Monticello, in the county of Piatt and State of Illinois,have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Corn-Shellers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to power machines for shelling corn andparticularly to that type of corn shelling apparatus in which a cylinderis used, and a concave in connection therewith, the cylinder and concavebeing mutually provided with teeth and the corn fed in at one end of thecylinder, the corn being shelled from the cob when passing between thecylinder and concave, and t-he cob and corn passing` out to the otherend of the cylinder upon suitable raddleracks, whereby the corn and cobsare carried forward in the machine, the corn being separated from thecob and being discharged by any suitable elevating apparatus while thecobs pass on and are discharged on a stacking device.

Particularly, my invention has relation to the shelling cylinder andconcave, and the object of the invention is to position the cylinder andconcave relatively to the raddle-rack beneath which the shelled corn andcobs are discharged upon the extreme rear end of the raddle-rack, thusgiving the full length of the raddle-rack for separating the Thisarrangement ob viates the disadvantages incident to the type of shellerin which the shelled cornecobs were discharged near the middle of theraddle-rack, thus reducing its separating capacity and preventing itfrom separat-ing all the corn'from the cobs before the cobs left theraddle-rack.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of a corn sheller showing myimprovementy therein, the shelling cylinder being in elevation. Fig. 2is an enlarged vertical transverse section through the shelling cylinderand its concave. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the concave andthe raddlerack beneath, the cylinder and feed screw being shown inelevation. Fig. 4f is a front elevation of a universal gear operatingthe forward conveyer; and Fig. 5 is a side view of the lower universalgear which is used for the purpose of driving a corn drag belt.

Corresponding and like parts are referred. to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Referring to these drawings, 2 designates a wheeled frame of anysuitable construction upon which the shelling and separating mechanismare to be supported. One end of the frame is provided with the uprights3 and the middle of the frame is preferably formed with the uprights 4.These uprights support the longitudinally extending shaft 5, having thebelt-wheel G at one end, the shaft, of course, passing through anysuitable bearings 7 and 8 carried by the up rights. Mounted on the shaft5 is the cylinder 9 which has the form of a frustated cone. VThe largeend of this cylinder is at the rear end of the machine, while the smallor feed end of the cylinder is directed toward the forward end of themachine. The cylinder 9 is contained within a casing or concave 11 whichalso has the form of a frustated cone, but tapering less than thecylinder 9 so that at the entrance end of the cylinder there will be arelatively large space between the cylinder and the concave, while atthe discharge end of the cylinder and concave a comparatively smallspace is left. The cylinder is, of course, provided with a plurality ofrows of teeth l2 arranged in alternate groups, the teeth of one groupextending at an angle to the .next succeeding group, and the teeth ofone group having a staggered relation to the teeth of the nextsucceeding group. The concave 1l is provided at its delivery end and atits'lower side with a series of spaced bars l which extendlongitudinally of the concave and project beyond the delivery endthereof.

` These bars are designed to hold the cobs and prevent the same frombeing rolled around the delivery end of the concave l1 by the teeth l2carried by the cylinder 9 when the kernels at the end of the cob havepassed beyond the lowermost teeth 13 mounted upon the inner side of theconcave 11. The bars l also hold the cobs in approximately horizontalpositions during the iinal shelling action and thus prevent the endkernels from being crushed which might occur should the cobs tilt orslant in a downward direction as their ends are projected beyond theends of the concave of the cylinder. The interior of the concave is alsoVprovided with a plurality of inwardly projecting teeth 13 also having astaggered relation with each The concave isisupported on oppositelydisposed, longitudinally extending side bars 11a mounted on the uprights3 and 4. This is shown in F ig. 2, which also shows the cylinder 9 insection. The cylinder 9 is hollow and supported onthe shaft 5 by meansofvspokes 14 extending from a central hub 14a. Any desired arrangement,however, for supporting the concave or casing 11 may be used, and ofcourse the particular form of the shelling cylinderv may be modified. Acurved guard 11b Vis mounted opposite the discharge end of the concave11 and serves to receive the corn and direct it upon the raddle.

Extending upward on each Vside of th machine are the sideV boards 15,between which is mounted the reciprocating feed rack 16. This rack issupported by links 17 at the rear thereof and is given a reciprocatingmotion by means of an eccentric 18 actuated in any desired manner notshown, and connected to the rack 16 by means of a connecting rod 19.This connecting rod acts to support the forward end of the rack.Mechanism for supporting and reciprocating these racks is so well knownthat an extended description thereof is not necessary. The face of therack is, of course, provided with upwardly and forwardly projectingteeth 20, whereby the corn-cobs with the corn thereon are fed toward thefeed screw 10.

In order to carry the corn upward and feed it upon the rack 16 Ipreferably provide a conveyer frame 21, within which moves the conveyerbelt 22, this belt passing around a shaft having a sprocket wheel 23,the shaft being located in the upper end of the frame 21. This sprocketwheel may be actuated in any suitable manner but is preferably drivenfrom a sprocket wheel 24 mounted on a shaft 25 supported in bearings 25aextending downward from a' rotatable ring plate 25h. A shaft 27 ismounted in bearings 26a depending from a cross bar 26 on the frame 3,this shaft 27 carrying the beveled gear wheel 27 a. Mounted on a shaft27 are the depending members 28 which carry at their lower ends abearing28a for a vertical shaft 29. This shaft carries at its upper enda beveled gear 29b which Yengages with the beveled gear 27a, and at itslower end has a beveled gear 29a which engages with a beveled gear 24%LVon the shaft 25. It will be seen that the universal joint thus formedenables the shaft 25 to be swung at any desired angle without moving anyother part of themachine, thus permit-tingthe conveyer 2 to be shiftedangularly as desired. Supported on the carrier 21 is a universal gear 45for operating the usual corn drag belt. This gear 45 is supported onarms 46 which are pivoted to the sides of the conveyer trough 21 and areconnected at the upper end to adjusting bars 47 whose end is providedwith a pin moving in the slot 21a. This construction is for the purposeof sliding the universal gear supports along the sides of the carrierelevator so that when the elevator is folded for the road the universalgear supports will carry the universal gear under the elevator.

At the discharge end of the cylinder 9 and concave 11, that is, at theextreme forward end of the machine, the corn which has been removed fromthe cobs by means of the teeth 12 and 13, and the corn-cobs are receivedon the reciprocating raddle-rack 30 which is perforated and providedwit-h upwardly and forwardly projecting teeth. Forward of the rack 30and on a slightly lower level, is the rack 31 of the same character asthe rack 30, and also provided with upwardly and rearwardly projectingteeth. These racks 30 and 31 are mounted in any suitable frame and arereciprocated by means of a connecting rod 33 connectedV to an eccentric34. Any other suitable mechanism for giving a reciprocating motion tothese racks may be used. A bottom 35 is provided beneath theraddle-raclrs 30 and 31 upon which the shelled corn drops, and by whichit is conducted rearward and Vdischarged upon a chute 36. The cobs aredischarged from the rack 30 on to the rack 31, and from thence to areciprocating rack 37 which is reciprocated by means of an eccentric rod33. Any other suitable means may be used, however, for reciprocating therack 37. The rack 37 discharges the cobs from which the corn has beenshelled into a hopper 40 from which the cobs pass to a conveyer 41carried in a frame 42, which con veyer carries the shelled cobs upwardto the upper end thereof where they are discharged upon a stack. Anyordinary means may be provided for raising or lowering the frame 42, orfor giving it a wholly reciprocating motion so as to spread the cobsalong the stack. The shelled corn on the ioor 35 is discharged into thechute 36 which carries the corn to a conveyer casing 43 in which ismounted the ordinary screw conveyer, indicated by the numeral 44 whichcarries the corn laterally beneath the machine to any suitable hoistingapparatus, the screw conveyer being operatively connected to a source ofpower as is usual in devices of this character. It will be understoodthat the racks 30, 31 and 37, and the means for operating them as wellas the conveyer 44, have been shown conventionally in the drawing forthe reason that all these parts are well known and are such as isusually found in corn-shelling apparatus.

The important part of my invention lies in the peculiar disposition ofthe shelling cylinder 9 and concave. As before stated, the shellingcylinder and concave have heretofore been reversed in position so thatthe receiving end of the cylinder and concave was disposed directly overthe rear end of the raddle-raclr 30, and directly beneath the upper endof the ear corn carrier elevator 2l, the discharge end of the cylinderand concave being located toward the middle of the raddle-raclr30. Bychanging the position of the cylinder and concave and providing thereciprocating feed rack 16 and the feed screw l0, I provide a meanswhereby the shelled corn may be discharged upon the extreme forward endof the raddle-racl 30, and thus the corn will be carried along the Wholelength of the raddle-rack, thus giving ample chance for the corn to beseparated from the cobs before the cobs pass on to the rack 31.

lVhat is claimed is:

l. In a corn sheller, a journaled shaft, a cylinder mounted thereon, aconcave surrounding the cylinder, a feed screw mounted upon the shaft atthe receiving end of the concave, a raddle rack located under theconcave and having its receiving end portion projecting beyond thedelivery end of the concave, and a feed rack located above the concaveand having its delivery end located above the feed screw, the said racksbeing located one above the other with the concave and cylinder betweenthem.

2. In a corn sheller, a cylinder journaled for rotation, a concavesurrounding the same, an ear feeding rack located above the concave, anear turning means located at the end of the cylinder and adapted toreceive ears from the ear feeding rack and present the same endwisebetween the cylinder and concave, and a raddle rack located below theconcave and having its receiving end projecting beyond the delivery endof the concave, said racks being located one above the other with theconcave and cylinder between them.

3. In a corn sheller, a cylinder journaled for rotation, a concavesurrounding the same, means for feeding ears between the concave and thecylinder, spaced teeth carried at the delivery end of the concave at thelower portion thereof and extending approximately longitudinally of theconcave and projecting beyond the delivery end thereof,-and a raddlerack located below the concave and having its receiving end portionprojecting beyond the delivery end of the concave.

In testimony whereof, I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

, CHARLES MGKEE. [1.. s]

Witnesses:

W. L. PLANKENHORN, R. B. WEDDLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

